About the book
June Black (1910–2009) was a painter, ceramicist and writer who exhibited in 1950s and ’60s New Zealand. Her work reflected her interest in existentialism, surrealism and the theatre of the absurd and challenged a conservative male-dominated art world, where she battled for visibility. Sheridan Keith’s memoir of her mother quotes generously from the journals Black kept for over forty years and from her absurdist play The Purple Umbrella. The result is a story that sizzles with erudition and humour and gives a rare insight into a fascinating woman ahead of her time.
‘One has the sense of a truly original mind.’—Lucinda Bennett, The Spinoff
‘Emotional struggle, existential struggle and the struggle to be creative … Black brings all of that to the surface.’ —Julia Waite, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
Sheridan Keith is known for her work as a journalist and fiction writer. Her short-story collection Shallow are the Smiles at the Supermarket was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Best First Book, and her novel, Zoology, won the Montana New Zealand Book Award for Fiction 1996. Sheridan runs a gallery called Blikfang Art and Antiques in Northcote, Auckland.
